How to live life the LoLo way…

>A Perfect Beginning

>(Note: Thanks for everyone who told me about the pictures. They’re fixed now, and I hope you enjoy the FULL view of my holiday cheer!)

Saturday morning we woke up to the first day of December. December is one of my favorite month. I’ve just finished with my birthday, holiday decorations are going up, Christmas trees are springing up in every empty lot in town.

Imagine my surprise when we woke up to snow! We never have snow on December 1st. We generally don’t have snow before Valentine’s Day!I ran back upstairs to let LouhGung know that outside was frosty and beautiful. He cared. A lot. So much that he turned over and moaned and fell back asleep. I’m his wife – I can read into these things. He cared.

I grabbed BBJ’s sweater and my camera and rushed her outside. (Yes, just her sweater – this is the Northwest. It’s never that cold.)

(Yeah, snow is pretty cool….but stairs are cooler! And so is that cookie in my fist. Nice breakfast, mom.)

We lounged around the house Saturday morning. We pulled all the Christmas decorations down from the garage and got to work. (I know – I said my little plastic tablecloth is my only decoration. I lied – I couldn’t deny Christmas her proper finery after she went to the trouble of snow on December 1!) I did the kitschy stuff, Daddy was the light master. I thought everything came together very well! (Notice how all the decorations are at least four feet off the floor!)

(Lights around the back door. Beautiful! My sad little drapes have never looked better! These were my very first, and only, attempt at picking out window dressings. They’re knotted up so BBJ can’t reach. Remember our 4 foot rule?)

(My little Santa candy jar. LouhGung doesn’t like this one, but it reminds of Christmas when I was a kid…and it gives me an excuse to fill it. ;-))

(I think I’m most proud of our mantle. I put up the stocking hangers and the shelf sitters and other knick-knacks. Louh Gung added the lights. Perfect!)

In the afternoon, Grandma A came over and played with BBJ so Mommy and Daddy could go to a Christmas concert. (I won tickets on the radio, and I was SO excited – they are absolutely my favorite band.) Thanks, Grandma!

On Sunday, we got BBJ dressed up in her new Christmas dress and went to church. (This was a hand-me-down from a friend. Her mother bought it at a craft show in Texas. Apparently, their Christmas is a warm Christmas? I’ve never seen a holiday dress is light cotton, with short sleeves! It’s adorable, though – she looks like a bavarian angel centerpiece!)

That night, we had our “idyllic Sunday evening.” I was on cloud nine! We made chocolate dipped pretzels and candy. BBJ was in charge of putting the chocolate in the bowl. I was in charge of melting it. Daddy mixed in the pretzels and candy and I spread it out on foil to harden. It was perfect for our short attention spans! The chocolate melted in about a minute, and hardened in about 5. 30 minutes after starting, we’ve got 18 little goodie bags. Like I said, perfect for us.